


Pragmatic

by JRaylin441



Series: Briareus [8]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, The scene where Ed's impaled
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-07
Updated: 2016-06-07
Packaged: 2018-07-12 20:42:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7121863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JRaylin441/pseuds/JRaylin441
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darius and Heinkel are saved by the kid they were just trying to kill, and then deal with the request he makes of them in return.</p>
<p>
  <i>They were close enough to kneel down next to him now and oh hell, it looked a whole lot worse at this distance. There was a huge green pole that looked like it went all the way through the kid’s side, piercing the bright red coat and hanging garishly out the other end.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pragmatic

**Author's Note:**

> So. I feel like this scene is really iconic in understanding what Ed is like as a character, and that it doesn't get enough attention. The dialogue for this is taken directly from the sub that I was watching. This is probably the only oneshot that will just be a retelling of a scene. Still, I hope you find something new in the way I present it!

It was, Heinkel decided, not quite the way he would have chosen to die. To be honest, he would have preferred to be out in the snow, crunching through the icy static of the air. As it was, he was currently trapped under the weight of half a building, with the smell of ammonia still burning in his nose, and a small ember of rage burning under his left collarbone. Homicidal urges had never been a problem until he had found himself combined with the mind of a lion, but now they were ruling his mind, sharpening it to a razor-tip clarity he was using to plan his revenge. Months. He had dedicated months to furthering the agenda of that maniac and this was all that came out of it?

A gasp sounded around the room. Heinkel’s ears, designed to pick up the slightest whisper, perked up. His body was trapped in its current position, and he couldn’t see anything aside from the pile of rubble in front of him, but it sounded like that brat was somehow still alive, and fully capable of muttering to himself. Well, if nothing else the kid was proving himself to be rather resilient. Some of the warnings that they had received were beginning to make sense. Maybe the Fullmetal Alchemist wasn’t much of a physical threat, but he had proven himself to be smart, and was now turning out to be on-par with a cockroach when it came to survival.

There was a flash of blue light against the stones in front of him, and the clatter of metal striking the ground. Had Elric made the noise? Or was it just another piece of rubble falling from the ceiling?

Another gasp. A dull clap. The flash of blue light was much closer now. For a moment, white fireworks lit the back of the lion chimera’s eyes as the pressure on his body was suddenly released. He craned his neck around to stare in awe as his vision cleared to reveal the floor flowing up into giant stone hands that held off the rubble.

Thankfully, nothing seemed to be broken, and Heinkel was able to shove onto his knees and glance around at his surroundings. For a moment, it looked like the boy was dead. He was flat out on the ground in a puddle of blood. But his arm was outstretched, topped by a pristine white glove that had meant the difference between life and death, and two golden eyes glared up from the floor, as if defying anyone who questioned the survival of the Fullmetal Alchemist for even a second.

“Damn that Kimblee.” Heinkel muttered the words to himself as he rubbed some dust out of his eyes, because the man had certainly gotten away and there was no way to catch him, but the ember was still burning away and he needed to do _something_ about it.

When he looked again, the kid’s eyes had closed, and he shared a questioning glance with Darius. This was gonna screw with his conscious if the last thing the kid had done was save his life. As he started walking toward the curled up body, he heard Darius asking the questions they were both wondering. Most importantly, if the body was even alive, and, if so, why it had saved them when it was already on the point of collapse

He was breathing. And one eye was cracked open still, which Heinkel could see now that he was drawing closer. Well, that answered one question. As for the other…

“Don’t get me wrong…” They were close enough to kneel down next to him now and oh hell, it looked a whole lot worse at this distance. There was a huge green pole that looked like it went all the way through the kid’s side, piercing the bright red coat and hanging garishly out the other end. The end that would have been nearest to the floor, the end that must have pushed _through_ the kid’s side, was ragged and crimped. This was not going to be a clean hole. This must have made a _mess_ that would hurt like hell. “I need someone… to pull this thing stuck in my side…out of me…or I’ve had it.”

What.

Distantly, Heinkel could hear Darius quizzing Elric on why he was trusting them, but right now he couldn’t care less. He was just remembering back to the boy who had spent the past few days walking behind them, bickering with his younger brother and stumbling through the tall drifts of snow. He had fought them off by dodging their strikes, and then later by damaging their sense of smell. And all the time Heinkel had been laughing to himself, thinking that _this_ was why you weren’t supposed to let kids into the army. Wondering how his commanding officer couldn’t see that this boy was just too soft to be able to do what needed to be done. Sure, he could endure harsh temperature and the company of adults, but in the end he was just a kid.

And he remembered what Kimblee had kept saying. _Don’t overlook him. He’s naive and childish, but he can pack a punch_.

He tuned back in when the kid said ‘please’, because that word should never be used in this context. This boy was strapped to a chair, looking down at the tool used to tug off the fingernails, and telling the torturer to _hurry up, he didn’t have all day_. One glance at Darius showed that they were thinking along the same lines, and then the gorilla chimera was convincing himself that this was something they were allowed to do. Then he, the bastard, scooted around behind the kid and lifted him up by his armpits. He was doing it deliberately; taking the job that was easier. Sure, he could offer up their services, but apparently Heinkel would be doing all the hard work.

“But as soon as I pull that out, you’re gonna lose a lot of blood, and then it’s lights out.” _Please figure something else out. Please don’t make me pull this thing out._ The lion side of him had taken away any squeamishness around blood, but that didn’t mean that he was looking forward to causing intentional pain to a kid. Especially not to a kid who had just saved his life.

Said kid simply twisted up his battered face and scoffed at him. As if to question why he always had to be the one to get stuff done. The expression felt so out-of-place here. “The moment you pull it out…I’ll close it up with alchemy…before I lose too much blood…”

“What?” Because this _was not the appropriate response to this situation_ and Heinkel would have tried to shake some sense into the kid if it wouldn’t have made everything so much worse. At least, “Do you have any experience in performing medical alchemy?” Because this was important. Because if not, he was just going to kill this kid, in cold-blooded murder.

“Long ago…when I tried to perform human transmutation…I researched it briefly…”

And that was not enough, not enough, not enough, because Heinkel had always been proud of the fact that while he was a killer, he was not a murderer, and that was about to change. But there was no way out, because if he did something the kid would die, and if he didn’t the kid would die, and here his savior was: sitting on the floor, held up by his armpits, and glaring at the world, as if challenging its right to deal him this hand.

Darius was once again thinking along the same lines, and was protesting loudly, but Elric just stared up through his hair gone lank with sweat and glared at Heinkel, as if he was fed up with waiting. For a moment the lion chimera remembered that the only reason he was currently up and alive was because this boy had realized that he wasn’t able to pull the pole out on his own.

“I’ll use my own life…in place of a Philosopher’s Stone…” He was panting between words and that was probably a punctured lung that was causing it. Heinkel tried to focus on a diagnosis. Anything to distract from what was actually being said, because Heinkel had spent enough time around Kimblee to understand how this would work. “It may shorten my life a little bit, though.”

So careless with his life. No, not careless, just pragmatic. More pragmatic than his innate nature should have allowed him to be.

“Are you sure about this?” Because he needed to know. That if nothing else this was assisted suicide rather than murder.

“This is no time for _debate_.” He spat the last word, probably in a combination of exasperation and pain. “If this is the outcome of my sense of mercy, then I’ve got to wipe my own ass.”

Darius was in danger of having his eyes fall out of his head, and Heinkel tried to recall when he had ever thought this boy too soft to be in the military. He saw now what his commanding officer must have been thinking when he allowed Elric to enlist. Now he was just wondering if said CO ever actually managed to control the kid’s actions. With drive like this, it seemed highly unlikely.

Still, the comment about mercy didn’t make any sense. This request was anything but merciful.

A sigh of resignation. “I’m not sure how you mean, but this _is_ no time for debate.” The boy had stopped gasping between his words and considering how extensive the injuries _had_ to be, that was probably not a good sign. “I’ll pull it out.”

The brat _smiled_. And gave a nod as if to say _well get on with it_.

Then closed his eyes. One inhale. One exhale.

“Okay, pull it.” And for one second, Heinkel looked into his eyes and believed that he could actually do it, because there was a Philosopher’s Stone inside the soul that was burning its way out of this kid’s body. Something pure and merciful and cruel and immutable. Something _gold_.

Then he pulled, and the screaming began, and it was all he could do to hold onto that one last spark of hope. Elric’s eyes were blown wide toward the ceiling as he gasped out soul-wrenching screams. This was not help. This was murder, _murder, murder_ because there was a kid in front of him, just a kid in way over his head who was screaming at the ceiling as a garish green pole was torn from his side, the red and green a mockery of a child’s holiday and shit shit shit shitshit _shitshitshitshit_ he was gonna wake up from nightmares of doing this for years. This would keep his subconscious locked and loaded with all the ammunition it could ever need to tear him apart because he was _murdering a kid_.

He felt the moment his lion’s nature took over, because suddenly he wasn’t worried anymore. Suddenly he was just wishing that the body would stop _squirming_ because it was making it difficult to remove the pole ( _in the back of his mind something was cringing and screaming too but that had to be filed away for the moment_ ).

Then the pole was free with a sucking _tug_ and Elric was making this wet gasping sound, pulling in air to fill lungs that probably weren’t even working. A clap and then blue light was pouring from the hole. Not a flash because this would take _way_ more than that. Then that too faded.

There was a second of silence where Heinkel stumbled back to himself and the only sound was the ringing left in his ears and the slow trickle of rubble from above. He heard Darius ask if the kid was dead but there was no way he could look. Because there was no way the kid was going to bounce back from that. No way.

“Don’t go writing me off.” A ghost. The ghost of the kid come to haunt him for the rest of his life. The only explanation for the voice he was currently hearing. Though, from Darius’s reaction it seemed like he could hear it too.

“I’m not completely healed…but I spliced together a working system…and for now…this jury-rigging has at least stopped the bleeding.” The first thing that Heinkel noticed was that Elric was back to gasping for breath between his words, whatever that meant.

He was woefully aware of his own lack of experience with this sort of thing. “Then, you need to have a doctor look at you.”

“No…there’s no time for that…” Heinkel wished he would stop _saying_ that, but his shock held him in place as the boy started to stagger to his feet.

“H-Hey”

“I have to go after Kimblee…or the others will be at risk…” And the kid apparently never quit because he was already walking off toward the exit.

Two steps. He made it two steps before he collapsed back onto the ground. Next to him, Darius stood, and the two chimeras started to make their way after the child who had just saved both of their lives, and then his own.

“Fool, there’s no way you can fight and win in your shape.” Heinkel wondered absently if there was going to come a time when he and Darius weren’t thinking the exact same thing.

A flash of red. A flash which, upon closer inspection, seemed to be a small stone.

“A Philosopher’s Stone, huh? That’s the one Mr. Kimblee had.”

And for a second that ember beneath his collarbone flared up brighter than ever. “We don’t need to call that freak ‘Mister’ anything! Not after he got us tangled up in this, too.” Not after he dropped a building on a boy that he knew would never try to kill him.

“You’re right,” Darius muttered. “What do you say we bid that bastard farewell now?”

“Yeah.” For a moment, the lion’s need for revenge battled with the man’s need to survive. In the end, practicality won out. “We’ll let him think we died here, and become free men.”

“So, what do we do about him?” And there was no escaping it for long. The fact that they were standing over the crumpled body of a boy who had saved them both. A boy who could have been part cockroach for the amount of times, tonight alone, that he had beaten insane odds against his survival.

“We can’t just let him die, right? We owe him our lives, after all.” And there was no way to argue that the debt had already been repaid, because they had only made everything worse with their presence. Without waiting for a response, Heinkel swung the kid only his back (he was so light and small, it made something in his stomach twist), and started making his way out of the rubble.

“Yeah.” Well, at least Darius would be on-board too.

“Once we get outside, we’ll have to find him a doctor, right away.” Because somehow Elric wasn’t dead, and Heinkel had no intention of simply standing around, waiting to become a murderer.

“Yeah.” Hmm. Looked like Darius agreed.


End file.
